Gather your friends, grab the remote and get ready to watch the big game!

Football games on TV make a great excuse to party! Nosh on nibble foods as you watch the game,
and have a blast playing our tabletop football game. Then serve up a delicious pizza dinner ending with carrot cake that's
been made to look like your favorite player! Make everything self-serve, and you'll have plenty of time to root for your favorite
team.

Make It Special

Party Guests Call Their Own Eating Plays

Set out the food so the guests can help themselves whenever they're ready. Set the appetizers out on
a table or counter along with paper plates and napkins. (Team colors provide the festive spirit!)

Put beverages in a cooler with ice. For a cooler that matches the party theme, purchase a football-shaped
toy chest (available at large toy stores and some department stores) or decorate the top of your cooler with construction
paper to look like a football field!

Later, possibly as halftime begins, set out the main meal and dessert.

Pass a Football-Shaped Cheese Ball

Well, not literally, unless a food fight is part of the party activities! But you can mold thePARMESAN CHEESE BALLinto a football shape rather than a round
ball, and garnish it with thin strips of bell pepper to look like laces. Place the cheese ball on a tray, and surround the
cheese ball with shredded lettuce to look like a playing field. Then just add your favorite assorted crackers

Get a Kick Out of Tabletop Football

It's a test of hand and finger dexterity during commercials or slow moments of the game!

Form goalposts about 4 inches high using pipe cleaners (fuzz-covered wire available at discount and
craft stores). Attach small pieces of pipe cleaner to the bottom of each post to hold it up. Make a triangular football, using
a strip of brown paper, 11x2 inches. Fold one of the corners of a short end over so the short end is lined up with the long
side. (It forms the beginning of the triangle.) Continue to fold the triangle over and over, lining it up with the long sides,
until there's only a little piece left. Tuck the piece into the triangle and glue it in place.

To play, set up the goalposts on a table. Have two partygoers take turns trying to flick the football
over the goal from just in front of the opponent's goal. To flick the football, hold it on the table with the long side of
the triangle up (the football rests on one point and you hold the point on the other end with your index finger). Flick the
football at the bottom point, using your thumb and finger on the other hand. Keep score, and award a prize to the person who
makes the most goals during the event.

Gobble Up a Player (or at Least the Jersey)

To make your "Favorite Player"CARROT WALNUT CAKE, bake the cake as directed. Cool the cake on a rectangular wire rack 10 minutes. Cover 1 rack with a towel;
place rack, towel side down, on top of cake; turn over as a unit. Remove pan. Place a rack on bottom of cake; turn over both
racks so the cake is right side up. Cool completely. Cut cake as shown in diagram.

To frost the cake with ease, freeze the cut cake pieces for about an hour. Arrange cake pieces on tray
to form jersey as shown. Tint the frosting with food color to look like the color of the jersey of the team you want to win.
Frost the cake, then complete the jersey with trim (in the appropriate color), number and name of your favorite player, using
Betty Crocker® decorating icing in a tube.

For a real conversation piece, copy and enlarge a picture of a favorite player's face, using a copy
machine, and glue it onto cardboard. Cut the cardboard around the face. Glue two wooden chopsticks or skewers to the back,
leaving half of each stick exposed. Poke the sticks into the center of the cake at the neck to really look like the player!

******Special Touch****** Make a stunning presentation by sprinkling the cheese ball with chopped
fresh parsley. Place cheese spread on a pretty serving platter, and surround it with a variety of crackers so guests can choose
what they like. Try one of the cracker variety packs containing several types of crackers in one box.

******Variation******
Add about 2 teaspoons of a favorite dried herb-basil works especially well-to the cheese mixture for an extra layer of
flavor.

Creamy Pesto Dip

This easy-to-make, do-ahead dip is ready for a party!

Prep: 5 min Start To Finish: 2 hr 5 min Makes 1 1/3 cups dip

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

1/3 cup pesto

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Cut-up raw vegetables, if desired

1. Stir together all ingredients except raw vegetbles

.2. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 48 hours. Serve with raw vegetables

1. Stir together cereal, popcorn and peanuts in large microwavable bowl; set aside.

2. Microwave butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla in large microwavable bowl on High 2 minutes
or until mixture is boiling, stirring after 1 minute. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.

2. Reserve 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over crusts. Top with
sausage, Vegetable Toppings and tomatoes. Sprinkle with oregano and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with the reserved mozzarella
cheese.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes (switching top and bottom pans halfway through bake time) or until crust is
brown and cheese is melted and bubbly. Cut pizza immediately into pieces. Let pizza stand a few minutes for easier serving.

Deep-Dish Crusts

2 packages regular or active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F to 115°F)

6 cups Original Bisquick® mix

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in Bisquick and oil; beat vigorously 20 strokes.
Turn dough onto surface generously dusted with Bisquick; gently roll in Bisquick to coat. Knead about 60 times or until smooth
and no longer sticky. Let dough rest 5 minutes. (At this point, dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.)
Divide dough in half. Pat each half of dough in bottom and up sides of 2 jelly roll pans, 15 1/2x10 1/2x1 inch, greased with
olive oil if desired. Or divide dough into fourths and press in bottom and up sides of 4 round pans, 9x1/2 inches, greased
with olive oil if desired.

******Time Saver****** Dough ahead! Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, and
turn dough over to grease all sides. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 24 hours. For easier shaping, let
dough stand at room temperature at least 20 minutes

Easy Pizza-Crust Breadsticks

Who would've thought that pizza crust would work for breadsticks, too? These tasty, easy-to-make breadsticks
prove that anything is possible in the kitchen!

3. Turn dough onto smooth surface; dust dough lightly with flour if necessary. Divide dough into 24
parts. Roll and shape each part into rope about 12 inches long for thin breadsticks or about 9 inches long for thick breadsticks.
Place about 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Cover and let rise 20 minutes.